6 Children's Book Characters Who Would Excel In Business School

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We all have beloved children’s book characters whose adventures either lit up our days or helped us drift peacefully to sleep and powered our dreams.

Now that we are in college, it seems to be harder and harder to connect to those bygone and carefree days as well as the characters themselves. But what if you could revisit all those nostalgic characters while making them relatable? What if these characters were experiencing some of the same trials and tribulations as you? What if … your favorite characters were enrolled in business school?

And which of your favorite characters would excel? Read on to see which of your beloved children’s book characters would excel in business school.

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Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat is a smooth talker. You saw how quickly he took over the children’s house and home in the books! He talked his way right inside and roped the children right into his schemes, selling them big dreams of what they could do and of all his inventions.

He’s a pretty slick character himself and we bet that if he could find his way into business school, he and his red and white striped hat would rise straight to the top.

Corduroy

While Corduroy was shy at first, this teddy bear found courage and sought out his dream of finding a button for his overalls. Though it was a struggle, he remained tenacious until his dreams were a success. These are some of the same qualities necessary to succeeding in business school and in owning your own business.

It is a lot of hard work to run your own business and can often be discouraging — but you should never give up on your dreams, a concept that Corduroy conveys. And with that name and sense of style, imagine the fashion empire he could have gone on to create!

Waldo

Where’s Waldo has been around for a long time and has become an iconic children’s book character. With that red and white striped sweater, round glasses, and knitted cap, he is recognized worldwide.

And you know who else is famous for wearing the same simple outfit every single day? Businessman extraordinaire and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg himself. He claims dressing the same way every day allows him to focus his energy on more important decisions at work. Waldo is already ahead of the game!

Another one of the biggest indicators of a successful business person is the ability to keep the public talking about himself and his product. How many countless hours did we spend as children searching fruitlessly for Waldo, pouring over labyrinthine images hoping for a glimpse of those red and white stripes?

Waldo does a good job — people will pay to keep trying to answer the question of Where’s Waldo?, a mystery that’s keeping children and adults up late at night wondering for years.

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The Boy

For many, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a heartwarming story of the selfless and unconditional love that The Tree has for The Boy. Yet, it also can be viewed from an entirely different perspective where The Boy was actually an exploitative genius. He got all the capital and investments that he needed to succeed in life and accomplished everything that he needed to.

He chose a sound investor, and by the end of the story, had given back The Tree her investment with interest. Perhaps if The Boy had gone to business school, he could have honed his already sharp business acumen so that he could have avoided exploiting The Tree in his inexperience.

Sam I Am

Sam I Am was a revolutionary businessman on his own. He came up with his own, totally unique product: green eggs and ham (I mean, who else would think of that?). He marketed the hell out of them too, showing how versatile his product was. You could eat it in a box with a fox, with a goat on a boat, even on a train in the rain!

And how catchy is that rhyming marketing scheme? And he got the biggest, toughest critic to invest and endorse his project — after that, he was set and sure to have a smash hit product on his hands. Imagine how good he would be in business school? He would define excellence.

Strega Nona

There is nothing more marketable than a lovable granny, and on that, Strega Nona owns the market. People often create cute grandmas to be the face of their brand because it will help it sell more, but that is a lesson Strega Nona learned without even going to business school. She knew how to market her product accordingly, knowing that nothing could sell pasta better than an Italian grandma.

She may have had some hiccups in her production where her magic pasta pot goes haywire and overproduces, but since she got into business school and learned the tricks of the trade, she would be on her way to the top of the market.

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Danielle Wirsansky graduated from FSU with a BA in Theatre, a BA in Creative Writing with a minor in History, and an MA in Modern European History with a minor in Public History. While a graduate student, she served as the Communications Officer for the History Graduate Student Association and President/Artistic Director of White Mouse Theatre Productions.
She studied abroad in London, England for the Spring 2015 semester at FSU's study center for the Playwriting Program and interned for the English National Theatre of Israel in Summer of 2015. Her first musical, City of Light, opened as part of FSU's New Horizons Festival in Spring of 2016.
She has also won the MRCE and URCAA Research grants from FSU. In the past, she served as the Marketing Director for the FSU Student Theatre Association, the intern for the Holocaust Education Resource Council, and the research assistant of Prof. Nathan Stoltzfus.
She has previously written for Context Florida (Contributing Writer), USA Today College (Contributing Writer), Sheroes of History (Contributing Blogger), No(le)Reservations (Contributing Blogger), Female, Reloaded (Arts/Entertainment Editor) , I Want a Buzz Magazine (intern), Mandarin Newsline (youth arts update columnist), Distink Designs (Guest blogger), whatscheaper.com (associate editor), escapewizard.com (associate editor), Spark TLH (Contributor), the Tallahassee Democrat (contributor), Elan Literary Magazine (Head of Marketing), and the Improviser Newspaper (Opinions Editor).
Danielle has been lucky to be writing for Uloop since 2015 and to have served as the FSU Campus Editor since 2015.